Annunciator.



H, J. ALTHER. ANNUNGIATOR.

I APPLICATION FILED JULY 2, 1909l a nnomvs'm COLUMBIA PLILNDURAPH Cu..WAsHlNuToN. D. c.

Patented Deo. 26, 1911.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY J. ALTHER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 GEORGE W. G-ILL, OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

ANNUNGIATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1911.

Application filed July 2, 1909. Serial No. 505,583.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. ALTHER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Annunciators, of which the' following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanically operated annunciators, and especially to that class of annunciators as may be used to in dicate whether a person is or is not occupying a room.

In hotels, the guestsv or tenants are often annoyed by the maid opening the door of a room or turning its knob, while the room is occupied. n

It is the principal object of my invention to prevent such annoyance by announcing to any one on` the outside of the door the fact that the room is occupied or unoccupied.

In the accompanying drawing, I have shown an embodiment of my invention as applied to a door of aroom, Figure 1 be* ing an outside or front elevation, Fig. 2 a rear elevation of the interior of the apparatus, and F ig. 3 a vertical sectionthrough said apparatus, 'the door and its ordinary lock.

Similar characters-represent like parts in all the figures.

1 is the door of a room, and 2 the ordinary lock inserted in a recess in the usual manner.

3 is a plate or casing such as is usually applied to the outside of the door opposite the lock mechanism and through which passes the spindle 4 of the knob 5. The plate or casing 3 is also provided with the usual keyhole 6 registering with the keyhole of the lock. Inside of the casing 3 and between it and the door 1 is a vertically slidable plate 7 which is held and guided by the flanges or guides 8-8, extending inward' from opposite edge walls of the casing 3. This plate or slide 7 is provided with two indicating marks 9 and l0, one above the other, and which are adapted to register with an opening 11 in theouter casing 3 when the slide 7 is at the upper and lower end respectively, of its movement. I prefer to have the indication 9 of such an appearance as to be in marked contrast to that of the casing 3, and also in marked contrast to the indicator 10. For

example, the indicator 9 may be painted red and the indicator 10 may be painted white, or the indicators 9 and 10 may be marked Out and In respectively or in any other manner to indicate a difference between them. The slide 7 is provided with a vertical slot 12, through which passes the knob spindle 4, saidslot permitting lthe sliding movement of the slide 7 in spite of said spindle. The slide 7 is also provided with vertical slots 13 through which the screws that secure the casing 3 to the door,

- pass, and said slots having a similar function to the slot 12.

14, 15 is a lever of the nature of a bell-v crank lever, pivoted at 16, to the inside of the casing 3, and the free end of the arm 14 of said lever bearing on the lower edge of the slide 7 with said slide resting upon said end of the lever. As the free end of the lever moves away from the slot 12 to the right, as shown in Fig. 2, said arm will raise the slide 7 toits uppermost position as shown in said figure. As the arm 14 moves back toward the slot 12, the slide 7 will drop, still resting upon the end of the arm 14, and the parts will assume the positions shown in'dotted lines in said figure. 17 is a tension spring secured to the back of the slide 7y and bearing upon the arm 14 at the upper portion of its course, so as to keep the proper tension upon said arm, and prevent its falling by gravity and also prevent the falling of the slide.v The lower edge. of the slide 7 is preferably reinforced as shown at 18, and this reinforcement is slightly notched near its outer end as at 19 to receive the toe on the free end of the arm 14 when said end has raised the slide 7 to its uppermost position. This notch 19 engaging with the toe of the arm 14 is an addi tional means to prevent the arm 14 from falling by gravity, and secondly to prevent the slide 7 from falling until the lever 14, 15 is positively acted upon. The arm 14 is in the shape of a cam, or in other words, is provided with a cam surface or edge 20. The short arm of t-he bell-crank lever 14, 15

. is in the form of a lug or ear 15. The lever bearing uponthe upper round opening 234 of the keyhole 6. The tongue 21 and the sleeve 22 are slotted as shown at 24, so that in one position of the tongue they register with the keyhole 6. rlhe tongue 21 when turned in the direction of t-he arrow 25, rides over the cam 20 of arm 14 and turns the lever 14, 15, raising the arm 14. The turning of the tongue 21 in the direction of the arrow 26 will cause said tongue to strike against the inside of the arm 15 and turn the lever 14, 15, so as to draw the arm 14 down.

Key 27, which is adapted to pass through the slots 6 and 24 and lit into the lock, is provided with an ear 28 extending laterally from the shank of the key, and down into the slot 24 when it is fitted in the lock. This ear 28 preferably extends from an annular reinforced portion 29 of the key. It will be seen that the key 27 is a double key, the ear 28 in the slot- 24 acting to turn the tongue 21.

The operation of the above apparatus will be as follows The parts being in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig.- 2, the door will be locked,and the indication 10 for Out will be seen through the opening 11 on the outside of the door, the arm 14 will be resting on the tongue 21, as shown in Fig. 2, and the lower' edge of the slide 7 will be resting upon the free end of the arm 14. When the tenant or holder of the room inserts his key 27fthrough the keyhole 6, the inner end of the key is in engagement with the lock, the ear 28 will have passed through the keyhole (5 and extend down into the slot 24. When the key 27 is turned in the direction of the arrows 25 to unlock the door, the tongue 21 will ride over the cam 20 of arm 14, raise said arm and correspondingly raise the slide 7, the free end of the arm 14 sliding along the reinforced portion 18 of said slide, until the toe on the free end of the arm 14 engages with the notch 19.' The spring 17 and the notch 19 will hold the arm 14 and the slide 7 in their uppermost position, and the indicator 9 will be in register with and displayed through the opening 11 of the casing 3, thus indicating to any one outside of the door that the occupant of the room is in. A complete revolution of the tongue 21 in the direction of the arrow 25, will bring the tongue and its slot 24 to its original position, and so' that the key may be withdrawn. When the holder of the room leaves said room, if the key is not in the lock on the outside, he should insert said key in the same manner that he did to unlock the door. Then on turning the key in the direction of the arrow 26 the tongue 21 will turn until it strikes the ear 15. Any further turning of the tongue 21 in the direction of the arrow 26 will cause the arm l 14 to be drawn down again to the position dshown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and the indicator 9 will then be drawn down behind the plate 3 and be covered up and the indicator 10 will be exposed through the opening 11, so as to show anyonefoutside of theis in or out of the room. 1t will also be obvious that my invention can be readily ipplied to the ordinary casing or. plate of a What 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Lett-ers'Patent of the United States is:

1. Adevice for use with a door, compris ing a movable signal, acasing inclosing the same, and provided with opposite parallel edge walls, a sliding'` plate supporting said signal and guided by andV between said edge walls, a lever bearing on the lower edge of said plate and adapted to slide the same by riding over said edge, and also adapted to retain said plate in its raised position when its bearing point with the plate is vertically over the fulcrum of the lever, a pivotal tongue adapted to engage with said lever, and said casing provided with an opening adjacent to said tongue, whereby means riding over said edge, and also adapted to v retain said plate in its raised position when its bearing point with the plate is vertically over the fulcrum of the lever, and the lower edge of said plate provided with a notch for engaging with said leverl when in said po.

sition, a pivotal tongue adapted to engage with said lever, and said casing provided with an opening adjacent to said tongue, whereby means .may be inserted within said opening for directly operating said tongue,

and thereby turning the lever and sliding the plate.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this speciiication, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY J ALTHER. Witnesses;

GEO. W. GrLL, MABEL V. Rosa.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

